Kirby Goes DS

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Popular mascot character to receive full NDS platformer.

By Anoop Gantayat

One of the Game Boy Advance's biggest stars will be making the move to the Nintendo DS soon. Nintendo has unveiled the tentatively titled Touch! Kirby Mahou no Efude (Touch! Kirby Magic Paintbrush in English) via the latest issue of Japan's Famitsu magazine.

Our story begins when Kirby encounters a sorceress who changes the world into a painting. She then transforms Kirby into a ball (yes, we're aware Kriby already is somewhat ball-like, but this is Nintendo's story, not ours). Kirby sets off on an adventure to return both himself and the world to normal.

You make use of a Magic Paintbrush, which the sorceress left behind, to help Kirby on his adventure. The Magic Paintbrush (or, in the real world, the NDS touch pen), is used to draw rainbow-colored lines on-the screen, guiding Kirby through levels of play. While levels feature pre-made platforms and areas of the ground upon which Kirby can walk, you'll have to draw your own platforms to get Kirby past obstacles like chasms and spikes. You're free to draw lines however you choose, with screenshots showing loops, platforms, slopes. Scribbles eventually disappear, so you'll need to keep on your toes.

The pen is used for more than just drawing lines. Kirby moves across the lines that you've drawn, but by touching him directly with the pen, you make him perform a dash attack which takes out enemies. You can also tap enemies with the pen in order to freeze them temporarily.

A good way to picture Touch! Kirby until we've gotten some screenshots is to imagine a colorful Nintendo platformer with rainbow-colored lines that the player has drawn running across the screen. The top screen displays a map as you play; this should be an important feature, considering that the map changes as you draw lines.

Of all the Nintendo NDS titles announced so far, this seems to be the most obvious effort at combining old-style gameplay with a new means of control. We can't wait to get our hands on the game for ourselves. A release date has yet to be announced.